“THE OUTSTANDING HISTORIAN… OF THE SILVER AGE OF LATIN LETTERS”: AUTHORITATIVE 1793 EDITION OF TACITUS’ WORKS

TACITUS, Cornelius. (MURPHY, Arthur, translator). The Works of Cornelius Tacitus… With an Essay on the Life and Genius of Tacitus; Notes, Supplements, and Maps. London: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1793. Four volumes. Quarto, contemporary full brown calf gilt, green morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers. $3500.

First edition of Murphy’s translation of Tacitus, bound in full contemporary calf, with four folding maps after Robert de Vaugondy and a folding plate of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Irish actor and author and friend of Dr. Johnson, Arthur Murphy, in his later years turned from the writing of popular dramas to the translating of classical works. His Tacitus "is one that has long enjoyed a high reputation for scholarship as well as for elegance of style" (Adams, 142). "Tacitus is the outstanding historian and principal prose writer of the Silver Age of Latin letters… He is by far the most reliable authority for the history of the period… Relatively unknown during the Middle Ages, Tacitus, whose works were first printed in Venice about 1473 and several times before the end of the century, exercised great influence on Renaissance historians" (PMM 93). This translation includes his chief works, the "Annales" and "Histories," which cover the period from the accession of Tiberius in A.D. 14 to the death of Domitian in 97, as well as the "Life of Agricola," "Notes on the Manners of the Germans," and the "Dialogue concerning Oratory." Lowndes, 2568. Armorial bookplates.

Scattered light foxing to text; only mild wear to handsome contemporary calf.